Xbox bets on Gears of War in battle of gaming giants
Xbox Game Studios
Gears of War, one of the video games that helped Microsoft’s Xbox to win over millions of fans, is back.
Prequel E-Day takes players back to where it all started, telling the origin story of humanity’s conflict with The Locust – the series’ horrifying enemy species.
The game’s been well-received by critics and players, but it’s also seen as a big test of Xbox’s new direction.
Unlike recent flagship titles from the company’s studios, which have been released on PlayStation 5 and, in some cases, Nintendo Switch, E-Day is being pushed as an Xbox exclusive.
The apparent goal is to draw players back to the brand, but critics have questioned whether that’s realistic at a time when console prices are higher than ever.
BBC Newsbeat spoke to developer The Coalition – the makers of E-Day – about what staying exclusive means to them.
‘Heart, blood and guts’
Gears of War has been one of Xbox’s flagship series since it launched back in 2006.
Creative director Matt Searcy tells Newsbeat the sci-fi shooter is a “mix of war story with comic book-y monsters that come out of the ground”.
“It’s a video game with a lot of heart, a lot of blood and guts,” he says.
First released on the Xbox 360, Gears helped to popularise “cover-shooter” gameplay, which encouraged players to shelter from enemy attacks.
It brought a strategic dimension to third-person action games, and also won fans with its co-operative multiplayer modes – a feature that’s returned for E-Day.
But, 20 years later, Xbox finds itself in a very different position in the console space.
It’s seen as a third-place competitor, behind both Sony‘s PlayStation and Nintendo’s Switch consoles.
Xbox Game Studios
Previous CEO Phil Spencer had begun to take the division in a new direction, releasing some of its most popular games on rival consoles for the first time.
E-Day was widely expected to follow other high budget series such as Halo on to other companies’ machines.
But new Xbox boss Asha Sharma, who took over the job in June, announced Gears of War would remain a “console exclusive”, although a PC version has also been released.
Her strategy has been called into question by critics.
After taking six years to make and an estimated budget in the hundreds of millions, they argue that keeping E-Day away from other platforms could mean it’s less likely to make back its development cost.
Coalition studio head Mike Crump says E-Day is a “natural choice to be an exclusive”.
“Gears has been an exclusive franchise to Xbox for 20 years now. It’s sort of entwined deeply with the brand,” he says.
He says the series “carries the banner” for the console and gives people a “reason to be in the Xbox ecosystem” – something he says has been the company’s mission since day one.
However, there will inevitably be discourse around E-Day’s sales figures and engagement numbers.
When asked what would constitute success for the game, Crump admits the studio has financial targets and goals for the number of players it wants to reach, but insists it takes a “broader view” than that.
“We measure things like, are we showcasing the platform? Are we pushing the hardware to its limits? Are we showcasing what the Xbox is capable of?
“Our goal basically is to be the best-looking game on the Xbox and really show the industry what’s possible with our hardware.”
Crump also says it’s important to drive players towards Game Pass, Xbox’s Netflix-style subscription service.
Xbox Game Studios
For onlookers, it’s harder to ignore the wider picture at Xbox.
The division has been carrying out mass layoffs and undergoing a wide-scale restructuring since Sharma’s appointment.
In July, she told employees there would be 3,200 job losses across Xbox-owned studios over the current financial year.
Last month, the company said it was about three-quarters of the way through this plan.
The Coalition has mostly avoided cuts so far, although one of E-Day’s narrative directors announced last month he had been let go.
Reports have suggested developers at the studio are worried they could be at risk now the game has been released.
When asked about this, Crump says: “What I say to myself, what I say to the team, is we just we need to focus on the things that we can control.
“For us that’s about shipping a great game that people are going to love and I feel like, as a team, we’ve done that.”
He says E-Day will provide a “great foundation” for future games in the series, and insists “the next game will not take nearly as long” to make.
Developers at other studios hit by layoffs previously told the BBC they were concerned about a loss of institutional knowledge – experienced staff who’ve been working on certain series for years and sometimes decades.
Crump says: “We’ve got a great team here.
“And the leadership team in particular has worked together for upwards of 20 years.
“So there’s definitely a continuity of knowledge and experience.”
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